The Planet's Protector
by Ebonrune
Summary: Sequel to The Planet's Enemy. Sephiroth is free of Cloud's mind in a body of his own, but there are still other problems. Without the protomateria, how much longer will Vincent be able to maintain control of Chaos? Where are Genesis and Angeal? Is Weiss really dead, and what's going on at the Northern Crater?


Disclaimer: Please note that this story will _not_ be updated very frequently if at all until at least Dark Paths is finished. This story is not even close to my first priority, and I am only putting this up for those who were wondering if there would be a sequel to tie up the loose ends left behind in the first story. I of course, do not own Final Fantasy VII or any of the compilation. That pleasure belongs to Square-Enix. Refer to my profile for the names and appearances of Cloud's swords.

* * *

Vincent sighed heavily and collapsed onto Cid's couch, putting a hand over his eyes. He almost couldn't believe he'd put himself into this situation willingly.

It wasn't that Trisha was a difficult baby. Far to the contrary, Vincent hadn't had to give Shera and Cid much help with her at all. It was _Kyle_ who was being the problem. Having been an only child for the first three years of his life, the toddler didn't like someone else taking his 'baby' role away from him and had become quite demanding. Even worse, he'd degenerated to behaving like a baby himself again, refusing to talk and instead crying to try and get what he wanted. He'd also decided to forget that he was potty trained, so they were having to use his overnight diapers.

Cid had been at the end of his rope by the time Vincent had shown up, and even Shera, who was usually more serene, had been starting to lose her temper. They'd all but foisted Kyle on Vincent so that they could concentrate on the newborn.

He didn't blame them for it. They didn't know he hadn't been sleeping well. He could usually handle Kyle, and under normal circumstances Vincent was sure he could have gotten things under control quickly. Unfortunately, Kyle had decided that being handed over to Vincent to care for meant his parents didn't love him any more and nothing Vincent, Cid or Shera said seemed able to convince him otherwise, since they'd 'replaced' him with the baby.

Vincent loved his godson, he knew he did, but having to repeat that fact to himself to keep from strangling the youngster wasn't a good sign. To make matters even worse, Chaos thought killing the child was a good idea and told Vincent that if he didn't do it, it would. Galian, who had decided that Kyle was pack, hadn't agreed and the two monsters had been fighting for about two hours now and giving Vincent a hell of a headache. Somehow in spite of that, he'd managed to get Kyle to go down for a nap, pointing out that if he wanted to be a baby so badly that he'd need to take naps like his little sister did.

Now he sat on the couch, trying not to whimper at the clamor going on in his head. He'd never had the monsters fighting each other before, and while Hell Masker and Death Gigas existed on different 'levels', without the protomateria, Chaos was free to roam as it liked and the only thing standing between it and absolute freedom to slaughter the Highwind household was Galian and Vincent's own willpower.

Finally a whimper _did_ escape Vincent's throat and he blindly grabbed a pillow to shove over his face, praying that Cid was taking a nap with Shera and Trisha, as he didn't think he could handle his friend's loud voice right then. "Shut up..." He groaned at the monsters. "Neither of you are hurting anyone I care about." He hissed when Chaos growled at him. "I'll take Cerberus to my head before I let that happen!"

Chaos appeared startled and ceased fighting with Galian, settling deeper into Vincent's mind and finally allowing him some peace. He could have cried from the pain finally easing up.

"Vince?" Cid's voice traveled to him from down the hall. "The hell you tryin' to suffocate yourself with one of my goddamn pillows for?!"

Vincent gave a heavy sigh and let the pillow drop, lifting his head to look at his friend. "Just a headache...it's abated for the moment."

"Heh." Cid stepped over to collapse on the couch next to Vincent. "I hear ya. Kyle's turned into a goddamn hellion." He sighed and shook his head. "Still, I'm glad you came by when you did. I was about ready to chuck the kid out with the trash."

Vincent smiled thinly. "While I am glad I was able to give some help, I really shouldn't stay. I...am not well, Cid. I may hurt your family."

Cid turned and looked at the other man with an unreadable expression for a few moments. "...Need some more time to come to grips with everything that's happened?" He asked with honest sympathy.

Vincent sighed and averted his own gaze to look off at the far wall. "You didn't give me a chance to explain when I arrived. Cid...I have no way to control Chaos any longer. The protomateria is gone. If it is the Planet's will, then it will somehow return to me, but until then...I am as dangerous as I was when you all first met me. Perhaps more so. It will not take the heat of battle to allow Chaos free. Not anymore."

"...Well, shit." Cid sat back and thought for a few moments before sighing heavily and nodding. "Alright then, Vince. You do what you've gotta do. Just let us know you're doing okay every so often. Or that you're still alive in any event." He reached out to grab Vincent's shoulder and gave him a firm shake. "I heard what you goddamn well said about shooting yourself. Don't you dare, or I'll come find your ass and beat it back to life! You got me?!"

Vincent shut his eyes and sighed heavily. "I'll try to resist the urge, but if it comes down to a choice between my life and that of an innocent...I will do as I feel I must."

"Oh, don't be so goddamn melodramatic." Cid snorted and took out a toothpick to chew on. "You've got more steel to you than that. We've all had our own hells, Vincent. You and Cloud like to be goddamn islands...well, cut that shit out! You having trouble, you call one of us." He punched Vincent in the arm this time. "And don't feed me that 'in my day' bull. You ain't _in_ 'your day' anymore! There isn't any goddamn shame in asking for help! Even Barret knows that shit!"

Vincent chuckled faintly and opened his eyes, looking at Cid from the corners of them. "So it is only I and Cloud who hold the 'old-fashioned' view of not burdening others with our problems? Barret didn't use to ask for help, and neither did you. What's changed then?"

"I got married." Cid replied. "And Barret keeps in contact with Marlene. Women got sense sometimes that we men are too goddamn stubborn to get until we get it knocked into us. Red's stubborn too, but he's young and thinks he's gotta do the work of his entire goddamn tribe or some shit. If you can't handle Kyle without worrying that one of your monsters is gonna eat my kid, then why not head down to Edge? Maybe Marlene can talk some sense into you too."

"Marlene, hm?" Vincent moved to stand. "Not Tifa?"

Cid sighed. "Tifa doesn't understand Cloud, I don't think she has much goddamn chance of understanding you."

"True, I suppose." Vincent sighed. "Shelke is sometimes in Edge though...and I don't know if I'm ready to speak to her."

"Because of Lucrecia?" Cid stood up too, the toothpick hanging from the corner of his mouth. "She had the woman's memories. She's not her."

Vincent sighed heavily. "...I'm sorry to leave you with Kyle, but I really don't think he's safe with me."

"I don't blame you, Vince. He's being a goddamn pain in the ass. _I_ can barely stand him right now." He clapped a hand on the taller man's shoulder. "Do what you've gotta do. Go where you've gotta go. Just check in every so often, goddamnit. We worry about you."

"I'll try."Vincent headed to the front hall to put his mid-calf black military-style boots on. "Cid..."

"Yeah?"

"Give Cloud a call. Ask him about Sephiroth."

"Ask him...? Why the hell would I?" Cid straightened up. "Is he having trouble with the bastard?"

"Ask him." Vincent straightened up and walked the few steps out the door, then was gone before Cid could think of something further to say.

"...Well, shit." Cid rubbed his head and closed the door behind his friend. As if he didn't have enough to think about concerning his home life, never mind outside of it.

* * *

Shelke opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling of her room in the WRO complex. She sighed softly and moved to sit up, stifling a groan at the aching feeling in her bones that was becoming a constant companion.

Still, it was a welcome aching. It meant the growth hormone stimulants were working. As she was weaned off her mako dependency, it was becoming easier and easier for the stimulants to take hold and she was starting to grow at an accelerated rate. It was a highly experimental treatment of course, having never been done on anyone before her. If successful however, it could bring hope to those who suffered from the various forms of dwarfism, allowing their bodies to grow so that they could have normal lives.

For Shelke, the chance of benefits far outweighed the risks. If it was successful, then she could live her life as a normal 20 year old woman. If it failed, then she would either stop growing or be _unable_ to stop growing. At the very worst, growing her body at the accelerated rate it was being forced to endure could cause damage to her organs, brittleness of her bones or even kill her. In spite of these risks though, Shelke considered it worth it. She had been a human experiment once, at least this time it was by choice.

She looked off at the pale peach painted wall of her frugal room. _Would I be looked at the way men look at other women then? The way Vincent Valentine once looked at Lucrecia Crescent?_

She turned, swinging her legs off the bed and moved to stand. Vincent was her primary motivator. Not only because he was her most staunch supporter next to Denzel and Marlene, but because Lucrecia's memories effected the way Shelke looked upon the man. Though she no longer had the woman's personality eating away at her own, the data she had been forced to collect for the Tsviets had left its mark. A part of her felt guilty for feeling the way she did for Vincent, but a motivator was a motivator. She could sort out the rest once her objective was complete, which by her estimates, would be in approximately two more years.

She stretched slowly, groaning softly at the soreness of her body. There was always the risk that all of her wouldn't grow at the same time, that a muscle could pull free of her bone because it was too short for the length or somesuch. As the process accelerated, the risk would only grow and she knew soon she would no longer be able to attend school with Denzel and Marlene.

She knew she would miss it, the normalcy of a normal school day. At the same time however, a part of her was relieved. Denzel and Marlene were her only friends. No one else wanted to be around her, she was too strange, too different. She was holding her young friends back from having other people, it really was for the best.

Wandering the small room, trying to work out some of the soreness and get dressed, Shelke paused in front of her full-length mirror and looked at herself. There wasn't much yet, but her body was starting to change, starting to bloom. She wondered to herself what she would look like as she continued to get older. Would she look like her vaguely remembered mother, or perhaps more like Shalua?

Shalua. Thinking of her older sister, who she'd been taken from so young and never got the chance to get to know again. Who had given her life for Shelke, though Shelke was even now still trying to understand that kind of selflessness. But then, how could she know her sister's mind when she hadn't gotten to know her?

Shelke turned away from the mirror to continue dressing. At least when it came to Shalua she had a plan. The dead could return to life, that had already been proven with Zack Fair and Angeal Hewley. She would find the way, and she would make it happen. Then she could get to know her sister.

* * *

"_WHAT?!_"

Cloud winced and held the phone well away from his ear while that initial exclaimation was followed by a string of curses that would probably have been blistering his ears and curling his toes if he hadn't been in the Infantry. Once the tirade showed signs of slowing down, he warily put the phone back to his ear.

"Are you done yet, Cid?"

"You're a _goddamn moron_!" Cid spat, though he seemed to have run out of the more creative expletives. "Why the _hell_ did you let Sephiroth get a hold of his clone? Or better yet, why didn't you cut its goddamn head off?!"

"And get him right back into my head? Yeah, I don't think so." Cloud sighed and pinched his brow, leaning back on his bike. "_Believe me_, I don't like this either, but he said 'humanity has a year' and I'm holding him to that. That gives us a year to prepare, and a year to maybe keep him from possessing anyone else should he decide to go back to his old habits and we kill him."

"And you're just trusting his goddamn _word?! You_ of all people?!"

Cloud made an annoyed sound in his throat. "Yes, I know. Look Cid, what choice do I have? I gave him a year. If I go after him now it'll make _me_ look bad, and with how good he is at wordplay...no. As long as he keeps his word, I'll keep mine."

"Do you even know where he _is_?!"

"No, but-"

"You mean you're just letting _Sephiroth_ run all goddamn willy nilly wherever he wants?!"

"What do you expect me to do? Babysit him?"

"Maybe you could have him goddamn well _arrested_ or some shit!"

Cloud gave a soft snort. "I doubt there's a prison anywhere on the Planet that could hold him, Cid. Let's be realistic, here. SOLDIERs are just too strong."

"Well what the hell did Shinra do if they lost control of'm then? Goddamn, useless..."

"They just killed them, as far as I know." Cloud glanced at Zack, who was crouched down by the place he'd died. "I wouldn't know for sure though, I was only Infantry. We have a year, Cid. That's all I can give you right now."

"...I can't goddamn well believe you, Spiky." Cid hung up.

Cloud sighed heavily and shut his cell to put it away, then looked over at Zack again, who was looking off at the distance, then cocked his head as if listening to something.

"What is it?" Cloud straightened up from where he was leaning against Fenrir and followed Zack's gaze, but all he saw was Edge and the decaying husk of Midgar.

"Mm..." Zack shook his head and looked back at the flowers that marked the place he'd died. "Donno." He ran a hand lightly over the plants. "...How many years has it been?"

"Hm? Since what?"

"...Since I'd died." Zack's voice was quiet.

Cloud considered his friend for a few moments. "About four years now."

"Four years..." Zack repeated. "So I should be twenty seven now. Instead I look younger than you."

Cloud gave a light snort. "You don't look _that_ young, Zack. Even with your old haircut, your face is too old." He shrugged. "I don't look twenty five. Mako is a preservative, we both know that. We probably won't look our ages until we're old."

"How old did Sephiroth look?"

Cloud grimaced. "It isn't like I took a good look at him. What does it even matter? Haven't I caught enough hell as it is for not taking his head off when I had the chance?"

"Not giving you hell, man." Zack did a couple of squats before straightening up and turning to face his friend. "Just asking."

"It doesn't matter. That body was alive. If it had been grown at a normal rate..." Cloud shrugged. "I'm not a scientist. It doesn't matter anyway."

"Guess not." Zack looked back over his shoulder at the horizon again, then turned back to Cloud. "You gonna let me drive back?"

"The _hell_ I am!" Cloud got astride his bike and pulled up his driving goggles. "Get your own bike if you want to drive one so badly."

"But I'm a good driver!" Zack protested, pouting at his friend. "I drove _you_ all over the place while you were comatose."

"Good for you." Cloud responded. "You're still not driving Fenrir."

"But she's so pretty!"

"He." Cloud corrected. "And I know. Get your own."

Zack sighed heavily and started over. "Where'd you get yours, then?"

"Johnny. One of Tifa's old friends who'd left to find his fortune like I had. He gave me the bike in exchange for a lifetime of free meals at Seventh Heaven."

"Well, _that's_ not very helpful!" Zack moved to get on the bike behind Cloud, but then paused and looked back again.

"What are you _looking_ at?!" Cloud was a little annoyed at once more not seeing anything.

"Nothing...I just feel like something's wrong over in that direction."

"What...in Edge?"

Zack shook his head. "No. Further away." He sighed and turned back to get on the bike. "I'm probably imagining it."

Cloud looked back at him and gave him a funny look. "...Being in the Lifestream made you weird."

Zack gave him a crooked smile. "Aerith says I'm a 'psudo-Cetra' since I was awake for so long. It's so dead around here though that I don't really get anything. When we were in Gongaga though...it was almost like being high."

"...Right." Cloud rolled his eyes behind the goggles and turned away. "And here I thought you were just being you."

"Well, that too...and then there was Genesis and Angeal and that kinda dulled the mood for a while..."

"Whatever." Cloud turned on the bike. "Hang on." And he started forward only to pull a 180° and peel off in the other direction. He couldn't help but smile slightly at Zack's yelp. It was mean to do to him, but it amused Cloud to no end that he could rattle the former SOLDIER. Of course, he figured full well when Zack inevitably got his own motorcycle that if Cloud ever had reason to ride on it, he'd be subjected to similar stunts. Until that day came though, he would just keep messing with his friend.

* * *

The Northern Contient. Cold and all but barren, it none the less still held life. The village below with the strange name of 'Icicle Inn', filled with human life. They also had animals of course; dogs and exceptionally fluffy chocobos bred for the cold weather, but it was the humans that held Sephiroth's attention.

He watched them move below him from his perch high in an evergreen tree with his black cloak wrapped tightly around himself and his braided hair curled around his neck in attempts to hold back the chill. He was keeping the promise he'd made to Cloud and was observing with as unbiased an eye as he could. The humans of Icicle Inn were, in Sephiroth's opinion, the only ones besides the Wutai who might be able to save their species. They had a mako reactor, but it was cold and filled with ice. They instead used a turbine to harness the winds that flowed from the crater and they also used oil and gas to heat their homes.

They seemed to be working with rather than against the Planet and though the blood that flowed in his veins was half alien rather than Cetra as he had once assumed and he still thought nothing of crashing another planetoid into it if he could, his sympathies essentially lay with the world.

_Even if I cracked this world in half and took the Lifestream into myself, it would be better off and I could create a paradise elsewhere._ His breath fogged in front of him when he exhaled heavily. But there was of course a problem with even that plan. Other than the black materia having been lost somewhere in the crater-if not having been swallowed back up by the Planet when Holy had exploded out of the ground-there was also his reason for having given humanity a chance to begin with.

Angeal; his best friend. His _only_ friend. The only person who's opinion still somehow mattered. The man who'd had himself killed by Zack's hand for reasons Sephiroth still did not understand. Who had since returned in a clone body, as had Zack himself. They hadn't spoken, and a part of Sephiroth was afraid to track the other man down and begin the dialogue. Perhaps it was the part of him that still clung to what humanity he still had, that might be ashamed of his actions. Even if most of those actions had actually been carried out by Jenova in his form, he couldn't deny that the hand that had summoned Meteor had been his own.

A deep, low rumble caught his attention and he lifted his head to look over in the direction of the crater, where the sound was originating. He watched as snow seemed to shake itself off the distant cliff face and tilted his head slightly in puzzlement.

_An earthquake?_ Such things were common in the area, at least compared to the rest of Gaia, but this was the first that Sephiroth had ever experienced and he wondered what would happen next. He waited, but the rumbling faded away and he was about to turn back to the village when it returned, this time the sound much deeper and longer. His eyes widened slightly when the land by the crater abruptly dipped, only to then heave up like an ocean wave. The rumbling got louder and was now being accompanied by loud cracking sounds as the permafrost and layers of snow were violently disturbed by the heaving ground.

Sephiroth tore his eyes away from the fascinating sight to look back at the town. The animals were well in a state of panic, sled dogs pulling desperately at their chains and chocobos trying to escape their pens. The humans didn't have the vantage point Sephiroth did, but they could clearly hear the noises. They were exiting their homes in hurried states to try and calm their animals, but they didn't know quite what was coming for them.

Sephiroth threw back the cloak to spread his wing and leave the tree. Once well above, he swung around once more to watch the approaching wave of land and his eyebrows shot up in surprise.

Though it was in the distance still and the heaving and rocking seemed to be settling down, deep cracks had opened up in the land, but rather than Lifestream escaping, Sephiroth saw magma seeping up from beneath.

_In such a Lifestream-rich area, the undercrust is exposed instead?_ Curiouser and curiouser, and what was going on to cause such a violent upheaval to begin with? His eyes drifted from the bleeding ground to the crater and he took note that a fissure appeared to have opened up in the wall, exposing it to the outside without a need to climb up over the top.

Sephiroth swung around again as the earthquake finally reached Icicle Inn and he watched as cracks opened up beneath the town, swallowing buildings, people and animals like a great hungry beast. Again, the lack of Lifestream and presence instead of magma was puzzling.

He then realized something else as well. The Planet, which normally would hum out its pains, was silent. The only sounds being created were by the earth itself as it tore itself open, but nothing from the voice of the Planet.

He swung back to the crater once more, ignoring what was happening below him and frowned. Something was wrong. Gaia was silent, the Lifestream absent. What was going on?

_"htorihpeS..."_ The voice snaked into his head with a whisper and he stiffened in surprise, falling several feet in the air before catching himself. _"emoC ot su, devoleb htorihpeS. eW dluow emoclew uoy. uoY dluow reven eb enola niaga."_

Sephiroth shook his head and put a hand to it. The voice was familiar to him, it was Mother calling to him. But as when she'd spoken to him before-when he'd still been trapped in Cloud's mind-he couldn't understand what was being said. How was she speaking to him at all? After her head had been absorbed by Kadaj to bring him back to life, Sephiroth had thought she would be gone. Was she speaking to him through the polluted stream created by the victims of Geostigma? It was the only explanation he could think of, but the fact remained that he still didn't know what she wanted, and if he was perfectly honest with himself, he wasn't sure if he wanted to know or even that it was more than his own mind playing games with him.

He shook his head again and turned from the crater once more to fly over what was now the burning remains of Icicle Inn. If any life existed down there, the fires would take care of it. Fire purged many things and he had more important things to consider than the fates of some humans.


End file.
